West Ham fans comments before AND after brilliant Newcastle United comeback win – Lovely jubbly!

West Ham fans had seen their team win just the three times at St James’ Park these last 25 years.

With Newcastle having so many missing players, time for the Hammers om Saturday to take advantage?

However, since the turn of the year, West Ham fans seeing their team win only two of twelve matches home and away, in domestic competitions.

West Ham fans commenting via their Knees Up Mother Brown message board, both before AND after what turned out to be a seven goal thriller…:

PRE-MATCH

‘Stayed at the same hotel in Dubai as the Newcastle team last week. Had a good chat with Jason Tindall who was nice (old man supports us). Eddie and him had one on ones with all their players that were there at the pool bar. That said mood seemed a bit sombre with Sven Botman likely out till 2025. Tindall says they always play well after the Dubai break!’

‘Always respected me for being a Hammer when working there back in mid to late 90s, something they didn’t do to my Liverpool supporting colleague.

They did have a superiority complex though as were doing quite well at the time.’

‘I think the general lower intensity of those games suits us.

an away match up at st james’ under the lights is twice as hard as a dreary lunchtime kick off.’

‘Going to see the In-Laws early Sunday morning. Father and Brother in law both NUFC supporters.

I hate losing and facing them so quickly. So c’mon West Ham, sort it out so I have a decent Easter Sunday.’

‘A point here would be a reasonable return – two evenly matched teams in the main.

Anything more, lovely jubbly.

‘I think we’ll win.’

‘It’s time for Kalvin Phillips to step up and show exactly why Moyes was chasing him for 2 years.’

‘I’d settle for a bore draw, would be epic if we could pinch the win, gut tells me it will be an entertaining 2-2 or even 3-3.

They do know how to score goals (15 in their last 6 matches), but they ship a fair few too. In their last six league games, Luton (4), Forest (2), Bournemouth (2), Arsenal (4) and Chelsea (3) have all scored more than one. Their only clean sheet in the last six was 3-0 at home v Wolves.’

‘The Geordies have an extensive injury list so that should enable us to earn a score draw.’

We should be looking to take 3 points up there.

‘Great memories of visiting Newcastle. Went for a curry and had good banter with another table of Geordie lads and lasses. True to the stereotype although it was Jan 1st the girls wore little black dresses with not a piece of knitwear in sight.’

‘All about Philips for me, if he puts in a performance his talent deserves then we come home with 3 points.’

‘Big game for both clubs, I think we are evenly matched, they have a better defence, we have more talent in the front end.

My worry is that they have pace to burn up front with that little wippett on the right and Isaacs, although if he gets the ball in the pocket Isaacs likes to have a little wander about and forty or fifty touches before he passes.’

‘Important to not lose this game but If we can sneak a win here it would put us in a great position for Europe.’

‘I’m not going with this Newcastle injury crisis, and as many as 9 First Teamers out. I am sure a few of them will make an amazing overnight recovery, and we will be in for a tough game.’

‘Looking at Newcastles injury list l would love for David Moyes to forget about being defensive because we can’t defend at the moment and to go on the front foot from the kick off.They are a partisan crowd but Moyes can shut them up by attacking them. Will he do it?’

POST-MATCH

‘Playing devil’s advocate, is Gordon cheating, or is it poor awareness from our defenders? I think it’s more the latter.

Players looking to manufacture contact and fouls in the box has been around for a while now. Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy made a career out of it.’

‘Is a fair point.

Good bit of both I reckon, proper naive from our players, particularly Phillips, but the issue remains, VAR(the would be failsafe!) has failed to come up with the correct outcome in both cases.’

‘Howe has had his teams well versed in the dark arts since he started coaching. Bournemouth were a sh..house team under him, as are Newcastle.

‘Yes and I am afraid to say that I’m conflicted about, more than ever this morning.

I hate that they get away with it – the press has, since the match, quoted him as saying it was ‘an incredible win’ – but it something that he’s been doing for so long that our coach should have some kind of response to it. I would hate some kind of ‘if you can’t beat ’em join ’em’ approach, for sure, but why has no-one at West Ham raised how blatantly their players roll around for decisions and try to con the ref?

It’s a great game that I have followed with a passion since the late 1970’s but it has become an embarrassment.’

‘Paqueta dives and rolls around as much as anyone else does.’

‘It’s probably been discussed on here already but apparently Gordon would have missed 2 games had he not been sent off for the second yellow but because it became a red it’s now a one game ban… how is that right? Fair etc etc and did he get sent off on purpose?’

‘Gordon should get the ban for the yellow + the ban for the red.’

‘And we play the role of Mr Nice guys. Kick it out at every opportunity a man goes down for treatment whilst they have a dirty side to them. Wonder if they would do the same for us?

Got punished in the end. Maybe we need bit more of a mean streak.’

‘I had a very brief interaction online with a Newcastle fan(I don’t ever discuss footy online other than here and won’t ever again). I suggested the penalty decisions and the refereeing in general was amongst the worst I’ve ever seen. He/she, was adamant that our 2nd should never have been allowed and that we were wrong in playing on for a head injury(I had to resist replying at that point, so angry am I that players try to stop the game with fake head injuries(Take note Paqueta, it’s horrid), and that the ref was so pro West Ham that he/she was proud that Newcastle had overcome this.

It’s the modern game I fear, Paqueta aside, are we just too nice to thrive?’

‘I reckon Gordon is going to do his “penalty trick” one too many times and he’s going to get in the way of a defender in full swing of a thunder**t clearance and he’ll cause himself some serious damage.

I’m certainly not the type to wish serious injury on any player, but I certainly won’t be shedding too many tears if it happens to him.’

‘Reading this thread anyone would think we lost that game because of the referee. We didn’t. We lost the game in very large part because when Newcastle were a busted flush, players dropping like flies, crowd silenced, our team well in control of the game, we chose to make an absurd tactical decision which deprived us of a significant chunk of the armoury that had got us into a winning, and comfortable, position.

We will of course never know but had we kept faith with the starting line up I feel sure we would have comfortably seen out the game, notwithstanding the penalty decisions, and kept alive our hopes for European football next season which, I believe, we have now blown.’

‘If that is a foul on the attacker then every concept of football is on its head. The ball becomes irrelevant as you need to try to even touch or win it, just get a leg between it and the opponent and make sure you are touched, and VAR will do the rest. In any other situation outside the penalty area that challenge from Gordon would be an illegal tackle from behind.

The rule makers and refs don’t actually understand what a foul is any more, and a “challenge” interpreted differently if it is in the penalty area. I cannot think of any other sport that is so unclear and muddled on the rules. I watch my daughters netball matches and the two ways of fouling are contact and obstruction, and these are applied equally all over the court in exactly the same way in a method that even an untrained player like me can now understand. Yet every week we have pundits, managers and tens of thousands of fans who have no idea what a foul is and how in each situation it will be applied. It is making the national game a confusing joke.’

‘Still fuming at everything in general. Mainly because my brain had made the mistake of imagining the victory when Bowen scored. Naive, schoolboy error on my part.’

‘Not worth watching, we will soon have empty stadiums at the also rans because most can see it’s corrupt.’

‘Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but there were no trains running to Newcastle via Leeds or York so having got tickets for the game courtesy of KUMB me and my mate got stuck at York due to a broken track further up the line and had to find a pub to watch the match. With us plucking defeat from the jaws of victory disappointment was layered on disappointment.’

‘Awful to see a team cowed by their own manager, who seems to forget the strength of attack when his team concede a couple chances.

It was a horrible decision. It removed so much of what was working. Paquetá suddenly is gone from the meat of the game and isolated up front. Phillips again showed he is nowhere near the levels required. We lost any ability to maintain attacks. Lost the presence of a striker as Paqueta plays nothing like Antonio. Sent a message to both teams that we were going to sit but couldn’t handle them.’

‘Game of the season shame we were on the losing side. The subs changed the game, Newcastle were always going to put their foot down for the rest of the game and we decided the best way to fight that was to stick the team behind the ball rather than continue doing what we were doing and attacking their makeshift defence. We fell apart after the changes. Gutting.’

‘Don’t know why anybody not a fan of the “Top6” and increasingly Newcastle watches MOTD, the programme just gets more biased by the week, all the highlights are available on various internet platforms, sometimes best with foreign commentary which can make more sense than the nonsense spouted by some of our pundits. Cheating is cheating, even when perpetrated by the media darlings, but somehow we hear that Salah diving is clever play but the same action from a mid table striker should be a yellow card for simulation. MOTD & co just perform for the global audience, the sooner the so called super clubs go off to play in their money league the better, we might actually get back to a level playing field competition.’

‘When you have sections of the media praising Gordon for his “clever” play to create the situation then I honestly wonder why I bother. Week in week out you hear the same old flannel about “clever” players drawing fouls, or teams rotating the foul to not get bookings.

It is cheating. Clever cheating, but still cheating and it is applauded too much.’

‘What was annoying is Newcastle had a boat load of injuries and still had a better bench than us.

This one will sting for a while.’

‘Newcastle’s xG was 4.07 apparently. How can we expect to win giving up that many chances?’

‘Gordon has been doing this sort of thing literally all season. I remember he won a game for Newcastle against (I think) Brentford with an equally dodgy penalty at the start of the season.

It’s part of his “value” I guess. Hopefully it’ll help England a bit this summer, so long as he doesn’t take Bowen’s place.’

‘Best and worst of Moyes today, and why whilst all basic arguments may suggest he stays, there’s such a growing argument against him.

Wonderful to see the team bravely defend, burst forward with counters, a front four that worked really well together.

Awful to see a team cowed by their own manager, who seems to forget the strength of attack when his team concede a couple chances.

It was a horrible decision. It removed so much of what was working. Paquetá suddenly is gone from the meat of the game and isolated up front. Phillips again showed he is nowhere near the levels required. We lost any ability to maintain attacks. Lost the presence of a striker as Paqueta plays nothing like Antonio. Sent a message to both teams that we were going to sit but couldn’t handle them.’

‘I’m still livid about this match.

The ref giving so much to newcastle, gordon getting penalties by sticking his leg in the way like jamie vardy, our players for being second best and not being ruthless, calvin phillips for not taking the ball out of the area, moyes for going defensive when it was obvious newcastle were making plenty of chances. Being charitable when newcastle had players injured and kicking the ball off the pitch. Even our fans doing ole’s when 3-1 up.

We just look unprofessional. You wouldn’t see liverpool sitting back like us at 3-1 up. I’ve seen up lose 4-3 twice in a season before but this was more embarassing because newcastle were seriously depleted and still won. We cant just keep relying on alvarez. But the writing was on the wall the fact he was missing. Results and attitude like this are why we reamain looking weak and our best players always leave.’

‘That’s the first time we’ve lost in the PL after holding a 2 goal lead since September 2016.’

‘Their subs were so good two of them got subbed. Seems like Eddie Howe hasn’t got a clue either because apparently their subs were so much better than what we had.’

‘Harvey Barnes (How much did he cost?) was one of the last Newcastle subs, and he alone was better than ANY of our subs on the bench! Jeeez. . . .

And two of their subs were so good they got subbed off.’

‘You mean the one that got injured? Almiron? Yeah, mate, he should have stayed on…’

‘It IS a rubbish decision but seen them given for the same thing time and time again… I can’t understand it. you’re trying to kick the ball away, the opponent get between you and the ball and it’s a pen.. it’s not like THEY have the ball….’

‘farcical…

It’s not even like Gordon tried to play the ball he wrapped his leg around phillips’ , his foot was actually moving away from the ball.

First one he did the same but VAR were correct not to overrule onfield decision as they would have been to stick if ref hadn’t given it. Defo not offside though.’

‘I know a few geordies and they’re all saying that the second decision was karma for the PSG penalty that knocked them out of Europe.’

‘Chelsea and Wolves scores made yesterday better and Newcastle injury list may now prove insummountable.Our fans are mostly blaming VAR or our manager but dont forget the disasterous January transfer window.’

‘Going to see the In-Laws early Sunday morning. Father and Brother in law both NUFC supporters.

Two hour drive. Early start. Lose an hour so even earlier. Put up with comments. The penalties will both be stonewall in their eyes.’

‘In the after game commentary on the stream I was watching, Shearer and Darren Bent both said it was a penalty. Gordon was “cute” to win it and there was definite contact with Philips ergo a penalty.

Pair of James Hunts but I’d expect nothing less from a Geordie and an ex Spurs player.’

‘Why do we feel the need to retreat when a goal or two ahead, appreciate a stronger squad would help, but we keep doing the same thing with the same result. Just travelled back with a crowd of very frustrated Hammers and very relieved Geordies both parties believing our substitutions cost us the game.’

‘At 3-1 Newcastle were completely dejected with subs even being carted off injured we could have made that 4 or 5 before the Phillips penalty. We just stopped bothering after 3 and had a few breakaways that we just stopped and played back to half way instead. We did that the other week too as soon as we had them absolutely broken we just give up.

Maybe it’s still progress as back in the day we would never even have turned up for games like this away. 1-0 down at Newcastle after 2 minutes would have been 5-0. But this is just as frustrating.’

‘My gut reactions in real time:

1st pen – yes

Burns on Mo – yes but changed immediately on seeing replay. Fair shoulder.

2nd pen – no way

Decision to try to hold on – madness.’

‘Thought we got what we deserved at the end there, let’s face it we were riding our luck regardless of whether or not it was a penalty.

This Kalvin bloke is proper rubbish ain’t he.’

‘Spoke to a couple of Newcastle fans walking back through the city. They said the same as every West Ham fan I spoke to. West Ham would have won that if Moyes hadn’t taken Antonio off. We were well on top until then.’

‘I think the referee got both penalty decisions right. I agree the turning point came with the decision to take off Antonio and replace him with Phillips. It just invited pressure on our defence and Newcastle missed two great chances before Phillips gave away the penalty. Phillips takes too long to do anything. WE cannot allow him any more time on the pitch. He definitely should not play against Bayer Leverkusen.’

‘Anyone who thinks Dan Burns shoulder barge on Kudus where he made no attempt to get the ball and was not in possession of it is everything wrong with modern football.’

‘It wouldn’t have been a foul 30 years ago, that is for sure.’

Stats via BBC Sport:

Newcastle 4 West Ham 3 – Saturday 30 March 12.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Isak 6 pen, 77 pen, Barnes 83, 90 (Gordon red card 90+4)

West Ham:

Antonio 21, Kudus 45+10, Bowen 48

Possession was West Ham 40% (37%) Newcastle 60% (63%)

Total shots were West Ham 9 (6) Newcastle 24 (12)

Shots on target were West Ham 4 (3) Newcastle 9 (4)

Corners were West Ham 4 (2) Newcastle 3 (1)

Referee: Robert Jones

Newcastle team v West Ham:

Dubravka; Livramento (Almiron 56 (Barnes 67)), Lascelles (Krafth 17 (Hall 57)), Schar, Burn; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Willock (Anderson 57); Murphy, Isak, Gordon

Subs:

Karius, Dummett, Ritchie, White

(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after West Ham thriller – Read HERE)

(David Moyes embarrasses himself with comments after Newcastle 4 West Ham 3 thriller – Read HERE)

(Eddie Howe absolutely loving what he saw today – That’s the beauty… Read HERE)

(Newcastle 4 West Ham 3 – Instant Newcastle United fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Newcastle 4 West Ham 3 – Never ever doubt the character of this Newcastle United squad – Read HERE)

(This is the photo that all Newcastle United fans will absolutely love today… See HERE)

Newcastle United confirmed Premier League matches to mid-April 2024:

Tuesday 2 April 2024 – Newcastle v Everton (7.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 6 April 2024 – Fulham v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 13 April 2024 – Newcastle v Spurs (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Wednesday 24 April 2024 – Crystal Palace v Newcastle (8pm)

Saturday 27 April 2024 – Newcastle v Sheff Utd (3pm)

Newcastle United fixtures, including to be confirmed matches:

Saturday 4 May 2024 – Burnley v Newcastle

Saturday 11 May 2024 – Newcastle v Brighton

Sunday 19 May 2024 – Brentford v Newcastle (4pm)

***Man U v Newcastle waiting for rearranged date

Wednesday 22 May 2024 – Tottenham v Newcastle (at MCG – Melbourne Cricket Ground)

Friday 24 May 2024 – A-League All Stars team v Newcastle (at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne)